Preparation and characterization of silver nanowires films for infrared radiation shielding

We studied the infrared properties randomly oriented silver nanowires films deposited onto different substrates. The investigated nanowires have cross-sectional diameters included between few to hundreds nanometers, while their lengths span from some microns to some tenths microns. Several films of silver nanowires were realized and the infrared emission of the obtained films was characterized in the long infrared range, i.e. 8-12 microns, by observing their temperature evolution under heating regime (maximum applied temperature ~90°) with a focal plane array (FPA) infrared camera. Under heating conditions, the apparent temperature of the silver nanowires films qualitatively follows the trend of the corresponding heating source temperature, while the absolute value keeps always somewhat lower. The experimental results show that the choice of metal filling factor may affect the resulting infrared emission and suggest that these coatings are suitable for infrared signature reduction applications.